Premier League rivals nearly hired Mikel Arteta before joining Arsenal

Mikel Arteta came incredibly close to joining one of Arsenal ’s Premier League rivals just months before taking the job as Gunners boss. In an extract of Sam Dean’s new book Arsenal: The Inside Story of Arsenal’s Rebirth Under Mikel Arteta published in the Daily Telegraph , it is revealed that Newcastle United and their controversial then-owner Mike Ashley put the full-court press on Arteta in the summer of 2019. Ashley made it clear that he was desperate to appoint Arteta, who was working as a coach at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola at the time, and was prepared to offer him “an extraordinarily long contract” that would far exceed the normal length of a deal for a first-time manager in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta made the decision to turn down Newcastle and took over at Arsenal a few months later (PA Wire) The Spaniard debated accepting the offer but ultimately declined and just a few months later, in December 2019, replaced Unai Emery as Arsenal manager to ensure a very different chapter of Premier League history would be written. Dean says of his decision to turn down the Magpies: “Arteta was tempted. Newcastle are one of the great clubs in English football, with hugely passionate fans, and in many ways they represented the perfect starting point for a coach of Arteta’s age and experience. “The previous season, Newcastle had finished 13th in the Premier League table, 11 points clear of the bottom three. On paper at least, there was room for improvement, without a need to be overly fearful of falling into a relegation battle. “Why did Arteta, after giving it serious consideration, ultimately reject the opportunity? Only he can answer that question, but there were some challenging factors at play.” Arteta could have ended up as Newcastle boss (Getty Images) Dean goes on to explain that the huge popularity of outgoing Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez , and the deep dislike that Magpies fans had for owner Ashley, gave Arteta cause for concern, while there were also issues with the squad – with Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon both departing St James’ Park, taking 23 of the 42 league goals that the club had scored the previous season with them. The Basque also did not have his preferred coaching staff assembled, with the timing not right for many of the personnel he was keen to bring with him, so much to Ashley’s chagrin, he turned the job down. Arteta won the FA Cup in 2020, less than eight months after being appointed at the Emirates Stadium, and although a fallow few years followed from a trophy perspective, he kept on building with the Gunners and finally won the Premier League title last year, as well as reaching the Champions League final. Steve Bruce became Newcastle manager instead of Arteta (Getty Images) Instead of Arteta, Ashley appointed Steve Bruce as Newcastle manager and he stayed into the role until Ashley finally sold the club in October 2021 to a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian government's sovereign wealth fund, with Bruce sacked shortly after and Eddie Howe brought in instead. Howe would lead the Magpies into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years in 2023 and then won their first major domestic trophy since 1955 by clinching the 2025 Carabao Cup, before stepping down this past summer to be replaced by Matthias Jaissle.